Fabric-pressing machine.



T. PATGHBTT & J. W. BURKE. FABRIC PRESSING MACHINE.

V APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 1910. 996,790, r Patented July 4, 1911.

3 SHEETSSHEET l.

T. PATGHBTT & J. W. BURKE.

FABRIC PRESSING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.14, 1910,

Patented July 4, 1911.

3 SHEETS-*SHEET 2.

T. PATGHETT & .J. W. BURKE.

FABRIC PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.14, 1910.

Patented July 4, 1911.

3 SHEETS-S HEET 3.

TOM PATCHETT, OF STONEHAM, AND JAMES FCE.

w. BURKE, or WAKEFIELD, MASSACHU- SETTS, ASSIGNORS 0F ONE-HALF TOWINSHIP, BOIT & 00., 0F WAKEFIELD, MASSA- CHUSETTS, A FIR-M.

FABRIC-PRESSING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4,1911.

72 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we. Ton PATOHETT, a citizen of the United States.residing at Stoneham, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, andJAMES 1V. BURKE, a citizen of the United States. residing at Valvefield.county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetta have invented anImprovement in Fabric-Pressing Machines, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is aspecification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to fabric-pressing machines which are adapted tosteam and at the same time press garments.

The objects of the invention are to provide a machine of this type inwhich the movement of the pressing element and table relative to eachother to press the garment is secured by power instead of by hand as isthe case in some pressing machines now in common use; to provide amachine in which the table has a vertical movement toward and from thepressing element so that when the pressing element and table areseparated from each other. the table is at a convenient height for theoperative to place thereon the garments to be pressed; to provide amachine of this type in which the pressing element has a bodily movementtoward and from the front of the machine so that when the table is inits loweredposit'ion the pressing element will be back out of the way'ofthe operative and the table and pressing element may be brought togetherfor pressing the garment without giving the table an undue verticalmovement; and to otherwise 1mprove machines of this type whereby theoperation thereof is controlled by a valve or similar device, themanipulation of which demands no particular manual labor on the pa rt ofthe operator.

\Ve will first describe one embodiment of our invention and then pointout the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Referring to.t-he drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a machineembodying our invention showing the parts in position for pressing: Fig.2 is a side view showing the parts in a similar position; Fig. 3 is aside view showing the table lowered and the pressing element thrown backwhich is the position of the parts when the garments are of the pressingtable; Figs. 5 and .6 are secj tionalviews through the valve. Fig. 7 isa perspective detail view of one of the links of the connectingmechanism between the table and the presser element.

-The machine herein shown comprises a table designated generally by 3 onwhich the garments to be pressed are placed, and a pressing elementdesignated generally by 4 between which and the table the garments are.pressed. The table 3 is mounted for vertical movement, and may be givensuch movement by any suitable means. o have herein shown a pneumatic orhydraulic device for this purpose which comprises two pistons 5 securedto the table and operating in stationary cylinders 6 carried by the base7 of the machine. to be elevated in the cylinders by admitting somemotive fluid to the latter, and while any suitable motive fluid may beem loyed, we prefer to use compressed air. T e motive fluid is shown asbeing admitted through the lower end of the cylinders through inletpipes 8 which lead to a controlling valve designated generally by 9,'

it is in another position said air will be exhausted from the cylinders.Any appropriate valve mechanism adapted thus to admit the motive fluidor exhaust it may be employed. Thatherein shown comprises an ordinarythree-way valve having a rotatable plug 10 providedwit-h the/lateralport- 11 and the cross port 12. The valve casing is provided with twoports 13 and 14 that lead to the two pipes 8, respectively, and it islet or exhaust port 16. The inlet port communicates with a supply pipe17 leading to a suitable source of fluid pressure supply. YVhen thevalve is in the position shown in Fig. 5, the port 11 communicates withthe inlet port 15 and the port 12 communicates with the ports 13 and 14:which lead to the pipes 8 and fluid pressure will be admitted to bothpipes and thus to the two cylinders. When the "alve is in the positionshown in Fig. 6. the port 11 is brought into register with the exhaustport 16. The ports 13, let

The pistons are adapted provided with an inlet port 15 and an outi tableand thereafter the are of sufficient length so that they are incommunication with the port 12 in both positions of the valve, and as aresult when the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 6, the cylindersare exhausted. The valve may be operated in any suitable way, and wehave herein shown for this purpose an arm 18 connected to the plug 10and having connected thereto a rod 19 by which the valve may be turned.This rod may conveniently be supported on a cross-bar 20 extendingbetween the cylinders 6, as shown in Fig. 1.

While we have described in detail one form of valve, yet we wish itunderstood that any other suitable device for admitting the fluid,pressure to or exhausting it from the cylinders may be employed withoutdeparting from the invention.

The pressing element 4 is secured to a head 21 which is mounted to movefrom its operative position over the table, as shown in Fig. 2, int-oits inoperative position, as shown in Fig. 3. While this movement of thehead may be accomplished in various ways, we have herein shown the headas sustained by two supports 22 that are pivoted to the base 7 at 23 andwhich permit the pressing element tto have this swinging movement abovedescribed. We propose to give the supports 22 their swinging movement bythe rising and falling movement of the table 3, so that the pressingelement will be automatically brought into position when the table iselevated. For this purpose, we have connected the supports 22 to thetableso that the rising movement of the table will swing the supportsforward. A convenient connection for accomplishing this result is shownherein and comprises links 23,pivoted to the table at 24 and alsopivoted at 26 to other links 25 which in turn are pivoted to theswinging supports 22 at 27. The links 25 are provided with shoul ders 28that engage the edge of the supports 22 and thus limit downward swingingmovement of said links. When the table rises the links 23 will swing thearms 22 forward, and as the table nears the upper limit of its movement,suitable guides on the table 00- operate with other guides on theswinging supports to guide the pressing element into its correctposition in parallelism with the table and to hold it there while thepressing is beinglperformed. In the present embodiment t ese guides arerolls 29 carried by pins 30 extending from the table and cam members 31and 32 carried by the supports 22 and situated 'to engage the rolls asthe parts move into operatlve position. The parts are so timed that asthe table rises, the pressing element will be swung forward until itcomes into parallelism with the ressing element will remain stationarywhile the table continues its rising movement to press the gar mentsthereon. This operation is provided so as to avoid any tendency to rubor wrinkle the garments due to any lateral movement of the pressingelement and table relative to each other while the garment is beingpressed.

It will be noted that each cam member 31 is so shaped that the upper camsurface thereof leads to the front edge 33 of the swinging support towhich it is attached, while the cam member 32 is shaped to present anopen throat or passageway 34: between it and the edge 33; The parts areso timed that as the table rises the supports 22 will have such aforward movement as to cause the rolls 29 to enter in between the cams31, 32, and when the rolls bring up against the faces 33 of the supports22, further forward movement of the pressing element is prevented. Therolls are so positioned that at this time the pressing element 4 will beparallel to the table, and the table and pressing element will haveapproximately the relative positions shown in dotted lines Fig. 3.During the further upward movement of the table, the rolls 29 move upin: the spaces 34 and the pressing element will be held in its parallelposition so that when the pressure is applied to the fabric there willbe no rubbing action which would tend to wrinkle the fabric, butinstead. the pressure will be applied perpendicularly. During the firstpart of the downward movement of the table, the pressing element 4remains stationary until the rolls 29 strike the cam surface of themember-131' and then the pressing element will retreatbackwardly, aswill be obvious.

We will preferably provide a counterbalancing mechanism for the head sothat there will be no undue strain on the parts when the head is ininoperative position. The

of counterbalancing weights 35 that are carried by or formed as part ofarms 36 that are fast to shafts 37 journaled in stands or bearings 38.Each shaft has'fast therewith another arm 39 which is connected by alink 40 to one of the supports 22. The construction is such that whenthe head is in its in operative position, as shown in'Fig. 3, thecounterweights35 are effective in counterweighting the head, while whenthe head is in its operative position, as shown in Fig. 2, thecounterweights are practically-ineffective.

In devices of this nature, it is customary toprovide for. steaming thegarment while it is being pressed, In the present embodicounterbalanceherein shown-is in the form ment we arrange for this by providing a 12nous face is slightly spaced from the table and is covered with a pad 41of cloth. Means however,

are provided for introducing steam into the space between the top of thetable and the facing 90 when the pressing is being done, so that thesteam will find its way through the cloth cover 41 to the garment beingpressed. Steam is delivered beneath the pad 41 at a plurality of pointsby means of steam pipes 42 which pass up through the table and areconnected to some suitable source of steam supply. In the presentembodiment, we have made the table hollow so as to provide within it asteam space 43 into which steam may be admitted for keeping the tablehot, and if desired the steam for steaming the garments may be takenfrom'this steam space 43 by means of a suitable pipe 44, as clearly seenin Fig. 1. Where this is done, we propose to project the pipe 44 intothe steam space 43 so that the steam which is used for steaming thegarments will be as dry as possible. It is only necessary to steam thegarments while the pressing is being done. In fact, it would be adetriment to have steam issuing from the table at all times because itwould interfere with the operative putting the garments on or'takingthem off from the table. lVe have, therefore, provided means forautomatically admitting steam to the-pipes 42 whenever the table 'iselevated, so that the steam will be delivered only when the pressing isbeing done. We accomplish this herein by providing the pipe 4-4 with avalve 45 which is operated by an arm 46 to which is connected a spring47 that normally holds the valve closed and to which is also connected acord or flexible connection 48 that leads to the cross bar 20. The valve45 rises and falls with the table and just before the table reaches theupper limit of its movement, the cord 48 becomes taut and operates toopen the valve 45, as will be evident from the drawings. As soon as thetable begins to descend, the spring 47 closes the valve automatically.The steam is supplied to the steam space 43 through one or more pipes 50which are shown as telescoping into other pipes 51 that are secured tothe base 7 and which connect to a suitable source of .steam supply. Anyother suitable arrangement for delivering steam to the chamber 43 mightbe adopted.

without departing from the invention.

We have also provided means for automatically cushioning the downwardmovement of the table. It will be understood that in a large machine ofthis sort, the table has considerable weight and that it is of advantageto provide some means for cushioning its downward movement. We providefor this herein by an arrangement which clcses the exhaust port of thevalve 9 just before the table reaches the lower' limit of its movement,so that the air which is confined in the cyllnder constitutes a cushionfor the table. To accomplish this the table is provided with an arm 59situated to engage the end of the rod 19 as the table descends.Referring to Fig. 2 the full line position of the rod shows the positionwhen the valve is open to admit motive fluid to the cylinders. lVhen thegarment is pressed and the operative wishes to lower the table, the rod19 is drawn upwardly into the dotted line position a thereby opening theexhaust valve. Before the table reaches the lower limit of its movement,the arm 59 engages the end of the rod and forces it downwardly therebyto close the valve, as shown in Fig. 3'. As soon as the valve is closedfurther downward movement of the table will cease and the parts will bebrought to rest in the position shown. To elevate the table again, theoperative merely forces the rod 19 downwardly still more into the fullline position shown in Fig. 2.

The operation of our improved device involves merely the placing of thegarments on the table and the operation of the valve, which requires noparticular manual effort on the part of the operative. Further, themachine takes up comparatively little room and the arrangement is suchthat when the table is lowered it is at a convenient height for theoperative to place the garments to be pressed thereon or remove themtherefrom. When the head 21 is in its inoperative position, as shown inFig. 3, it is entirely out of the way of the operative ample space isafforded for putting the garments in position.

It is desirable that the steam should be distributed as uniformly aspossible throughout the space beneath the foraminous facing -90, inorder that all parts of the garment may be uniformly steamed. To assistin distributing the steam, we have provided a deflector 60 at the outletend of each pipe 42 which serves to deflect the steam laterally. Thisdeflector is best seen in Fig. 4, and is in the form of a plate whichwill preferably be provided with a stem 61 adapted to enter the pipe 42and serve as a means for positioning said plate. lVhen the steam isadmitted, the force of the steam will lift the plate against the facing90, and said plate will operate to deflect the steam laterally.

It is not essentialoto the invention that the table should be given itsvertical movement by pneumatic or hydraulic means as any other suitablemechanism for accomplishing this object might be employed. 'One of thefeatures which is of importance is that the table is capable of risingand falling and may, therefore, be brought into a lowered positionconvenient for the operator to place the articles on, and may thereafterbe ele-. vated to accomplish the pressing, and another =feature is thatthe pressing element has a lateral movement so that it is carried &

back out of the way when the table is lowered, and still anotherimportant feature is the manner in which the pressing element is firstmoved into operative posit-ion in parallelism with the table before thelatter completes its upward movement and then remains stationary whilethe table continues its upward movement, so that there will be no dangerof wrinkling or displacing the garment by any lateral movement of thepressing element.

It will be understood, of course, that various changes may be made inthe construction of the device without departing from the invention.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. In a fabric-pressing machine, thecombination with a vertically-movable table, of a pressing elementmovable laterally relative to the direction of movement of the tableinto and out of operative position over the table, and means operated bythe vertical movement of the table to give .the pressing element itslateral movement and to hold it stationary during the pressingoperation. 2. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table, of a pressing element above the table andmovable laterally with relation to the direction of movement of thetable intoand out of a -position in alinement and parallel therewith,

ment by the former, and is held stationaryrelative thereto during thepressing opera tion.

3. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table, means to elevate and depress the table, apressing element located above the table, swinging supports for thepressing element, means for operating the swinging supports in timedrelation to the vertical movement of the table to cause the pressingelement to swing back out of line with the table when the latter islowered and to swing forward into line with the table when the latter iselevated, said means holding the pressing element stationary relative tothe table during the pressing operation.

4. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with a base, of avertically-movable table sustained thereby, a pressing element above thetable, swinging supports for the pressing element pivoted to' the base,means connecting said supports to the table whereby the pressing elementis moved laterally as against the pressing element.

5. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with a base, of avertically-movable table sustained by the base, swinging supportspivoted to the base, a pressing element carried by said supports,pneumatic means to elevate the table, means connecting said table withsaid supports whereby as the table rises the pressing element is swunginto operative position above the table, and means to limit the swingingmovementof the pressing element when it reaches its operativeposition,-and holdit stationary during the pressing operation.

6. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with a base, ofcylinders carried thereby, pistons in the cylinders, a table supportedby the pistons, a pressing element above the table, a valve to controlthe admission of motive fluid to the cylinders and the exhausttherefrom, and means operated by the table as it descends to close saidvalve thereby to cushion the downward movement of the table.

7. In an ironing machine, the combination with a table having aforaminous face, of a pressing element situated above the table,

means to elevate the table against the pressing element, means todeliver steam through said foraminous face, a valve controlling thedelivery of steam, and means. controlled by the movement of the table toopen said valve when the table is elevated and to close said valve whenthe table is lowered.

8. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table, of a pressing element movable laterallyrelative to the table,means to move the table vertically toward thepressing element, and means operated by the movement of the table tomove the pressing element laterally into a position over the table andin parallelism therewith during the first part of the upward movement ofthe table, said pressing element remaining at rest during the finalupward movement of the table.

. 9, In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table, of a pressing element, swinging supports forthe Iatter to permit it to swing laterally into and out of operativeposition, means to give the table an upward vertical movement, and meansoperated by the movement of the latter to swing the pressing elementinto position 'over the table and in parallelism therewith during thefirst part of the upward movement of the table, said pressing elementremaining at rest during the final upward movement of the table.

' 10. In a fabric-pressingmachine, the-combination with avertically-movable table having a foraminous face, of apressing elementmovable laterally relative to the table and normally occupying aposition out of line with the table, means to move the table' Isimultaneously move the pressing element laterally into a positionoverand parallel with the foraminous face of the table, and

the pressing element and simultaneously move the pressing elementlaterally into a position over and parallel with the foraminous face ofthe table, a valve to admit steam to said foraminous face, and meansoperated by the movement of the table'to open said valve when the tableis elevated v against the pressing element.

12. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table,

of a laterally-movable pressing element situated above the table,pneumatic means to elevate the table, means operated by the upwardmovement of the table to swing the pressing element into operativeposition, a valve controlling the operation of the pneumatic means,'saidvalve having an exhaust port which when open permits the table todescend, and means for automatically clos.-'

ing the exhaust port to trap some of the motive fluid and therebycushion the descent of the table.

13. In a fabric-pressing machine, the

combination with a vertically-movable table having a. work-supportingface, means to elevate and depress the table, a pressing element located'above the table and having a pressing face all points of which actsimultaneously against the table, swinging supports for the pressingelement, and means for operating the swinging sup-' ports in timedrelation to the vertical movement of the table to cause the pressingelement to swing back'out of line with the table when the latter islowered and to swing forward into line, with the table and with itspressing face parallel to that of the table when the latter is elevated.

14. In a fabric-pressing machine, the combination with avertically-movable table having a work-supporting face, of a pressingelement movable laterally relative to the direction of movement of thetable and nor; mally occupying a position out of line with the table andhaving a pressing face all points of which act simultaneously againstthe table, and means to move the table vertically and the pressingelement laterally in timed relation to each other so as to bring thepressing element over the table with its face parallel with that of thetable when the latter is elevated and to move the pressing elementbackwardly into its normal position when the table is lowered.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TOM PATGHETT; JAMES w. BURKE.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK S. GREENLEAF, E. E. Borr.

